The municipal government of Jiangsu Province in eastern China announced today that it had reached an agreement with the US-based Ford Motor company to establish a research and development (R&D) center in the capital Nanjing.
In addition to the R&D center, Ford will also set up a China operations center in the same city.
The announcement comes amid further strains in the China-US trade relationship as expectations of a settlement between the two countries fade among market investors.
Could investment in China – such as the Ford operations upgrade – offer a helping hand to resolve the China-US trade impasse? [Image: Archives]
The latest blow to these hopes of an early resolution came on August 9 when US President Donald Trump said he was not ready to make a deal with China and could even cancel trade negotiations slate for September.
Nevertheless, Ford’s plans are expected to fully support the automotive company’s China operations with a some 30 new Ford and Lincoln cars customized domestically to be rolled into the market by 2022.
The city of Nanjing has in the past decade seen growth in the automotive manufacturing and R&D industries. The current focus is on new energy automotive R&D, including Chinese electric vehicle startups and electirc-battery production.
The Beijing government is currently pushing to maximize the efficiency of the new vehicles being manufactured in a bid to become a global center for the development of electric cars.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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